The present invention relates to an improved apparatus and method for providing high resolution images of a scene, and for obtaining simultaneously a wide angle image and a "zoomed" image of a particular region of the scene ("window"), with both images having high resolution.
Conventional systems used today for similar purposes generally include a:
1) Video camera mounted on a mechanical orientation system; or a PA1 2) Video camera with an electronic interface system which displays only part of the image seen by the camera. PA1 1) Low speed of orientation and no environmental monitoring, i.e., only the region aimed at is seen. Also, mechanical systems are much less reliable than electronic systems; PA1 2) Low resolution of the image in partial view. In order to obtain high resolution images large C.C.D. arrays can be used, but the price of these arrays increases very rapidly with increased resolution, and the time needed for reading these arrays increases proportionally as the squared value of the image resolution, thus lowering the image rate. Furthermore, wide angle views suffer from focusing and distortion problems since the image spherical surface does not fit the plane sensor surface.
These prior art systems have the respective disadvantages of:
Prior United States patents in related fields which make use of several sensors include:
Combining several video signals into one, giving the possibility of displaying one of them (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,777,526 and 4,814,869);
Selecting a view from a number of cameras and processing each one in a specific way (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,779,134, 4,831,438, 4,462,045, 4,577,344, 4,630,110 and 4,943,864);
Making a stereoscopic view by use of two cameras (or volume sensing) (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,739,400, 4,395,731, 4,559,555 and 4,709,265);
Selecting region of interest from one camera (U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,685);
Moving the area viewed by electronic means in a "vidicon" (U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,839);
Adding some necessary data to video signal (U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,339);
Projecting a 360 degree field of view on one spherical surface and examining it by the use of one rotating sensor (U.S. Pat. No. 3,588,517);
Processing four camera views so that they will give one larger view when displayed on four adjacent monitors (U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,942).
None of these prior art teachings contains the novel and highly advantageous features of the invention described here, which are:
Collecting all pixel data of a determined field of view on a number of sensors, using a specific arrangement of elements;
Treating the pixel data at a video rate (typically 10 Mhz) as part of a global total scene. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,942 one global image is built from four different sensors, but this is done by monitor juxtaposition, instead of treating all pixels of all sensors as part of one video image, so that the integration is in fact made by the observer's eyes;
Selecting at a video rate the "region of interest" (window, monitor) pixels from different sensors and arranging them to give a high resolution continuous image;
Changing at every new frame (illustratively every 1/30th of a second) the window parameters (position, length, width); and
Defining an unlimited number of windows by adding the necessary number of modular electronic cards in the electronic interface.